Bacalhau Salad (Salt Cod Salad)

March 8, 2009 | Filed Under Bacalhau/Salt Cod, Salad, Seafood | 17 Comments

Very simple Salt Cod Salad

Not long ago, I blogged about a salt cod (Bacalhau) stew recipe that I got from a co worker. She also gave me a salt cod salad recipe.

Basically, she said to:

o Soak the salt cod and throw out the water.

o Boil the salt cod for 15 minutes.

o Cut the fish into pieces.

o Add Spanish onions, tomatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs.

o Add extra virgin olive oil

o Add vinegar

o Mix the ingredients

o Eat right away or refridgerate.

What an easy and tasty salad to make. From the photos you can see that I didn’t even bother to slice the eggs. Normally, one uses apple cider vinegar but I felt like using balsamic vinegar. Tasted really good. I made the salad several times and each time added something different like Bell peppers, lettuce, avocado and capers.

Below’s a more detailed Salt Cod Salad recipe from Stephen Cooks.

Serenata de Bacalao (Salt Cod Seranade Salad)

Ingredients

1lb salt cod

2 yellow onions, sliced in crescents

2 sweet peppers, red or green, sliced in crescents

2 tomatoes, sliced in crescents

2 Cups shredded lettuce (or cabbage)

2 ripe avocado, sliced

2 boiling potatoes, boiled, sliced

olive oil

red wine vienegar

salt and pepper to taste

(optional: hard cooked eggs, sliced capers)

Directions

Desalt the cod by soaking in water to cover, refrigerated, for 3 days, changing the water one to three times a day. Cut the cod into chunks about 1" square and place in a pan with water to cover. Bring to boil and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse. When cooled, flake the fish.

Arrange the vegetables and fish on a bed of the lettuce and drizzle with oil and venegar to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Salt Cod Salad, a little bit fancier

Pear, Gorgonzola, and Pecan Salad

November 3, 2008 | Filed Under Cheese, Fruits, Gorgonzola, Nuts, Pears, Pecans, Salad | 21 Comments

This summer, while convalescing in bed, using my laptop was one of the few things I could do without feeling pain. As I caught up with my blog reading, I came across this salad on Bleeding Espresso.

Later, when I felt better and could go into the kitchen, I made the salad. I loved it and made it over and over again. Never got tired of it. It’s supposed to be a summer salad but if I find the main ingredients like the pears, I plan on making it any time of the year. I think I’ll try canned pears. Thanks, Michelle!

Pear, Gorgonzola, Pecan Salad

Bleeding Espresso

For salad:

Salad greens of your choice
Pears, washed, sliced in half and cored
Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Raisins
Pecans

For dressing*:

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt to taste

* This makes enough dressing for about 2-3 salads depending on personal taste and the size of the salads.

1. In a small bowl, mix together lemon and honey until honey is dissolved.

2. Stir in vinegar, then oil, and adjust for salt and other ingredients.

3. If making individual salad plates (recommended), assemble as shown in the photos with pear sliced in half lengthwise and cored placed in the middle of the plate–or any way you like really. It’s your salad!

4. Be sure to brush the pear slices/halves with lemon juice so they don’t brown before serving.

5. I would also recommend serving the dressing on the side at the table but that’s personal preference. If you’re adding it to the plates, serve immediately so things don’t get soggy.

Spinach, Tuna, Tomato and Radish Salad for Paz

September 1, 2008 | Filed Under Fellow Bloggers, Fruits, Guest Bloggers, Kalyn's Kitchen, Radishes, Salad, Seafood, Spinach, Tomatoes, Tuna, Vegetables | 32 Comments

Please help me welcome this week’s guest blogger, Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Thanks, Kalyn!

Paz

When Paz first asked me to be a guest blogger for her while she was recovering from surgery, I planned a surprise and photographed a bunch of food bloggers at the BlogHer conference in San Francisco, all holding signs with get well wishes for Paz. Then I was impatient and shared a couple of photos in my post about the conference, and Paz refused to stay in bed like a good patient, so she saw the surprise!

I believe things happen the way they’re supposed to, so maybe the get-well wishes were better when Paz was first recovering anyway. Now I’m thinking she might be feeling quite a bit better and maybe now she’s well enough to make this simple salad. This recipe is loaded with nutritious ingredients to get Paz back in good shape in no time!

Spinach, Tuna, Tomato, and Radish Salad for Paz
(Makes one salad, can be doubled, Recipe created by Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen.)

2 cups washed and dried baby spinach leaves (or arugula)
1/2 can tuna, drained (Italian tuna packed in olive oil is best for this.)
5-6 radishes, sliced
2-3 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut in quarters
extra virgin olive oil, about a tablespoon
juice of half a lemon (or more if you like a lot of lemon)

Arrange washed spinach or arugula on salad plate. Put tuna in the middle of the spinach, arrange tomatoes around the edge, and sprinkle radishes over. Drizzle salad with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, the squeeze lemon juice over. You can serve with extra lemon slices to squeeze on when you’re eating the salad if desired.

This is one of those salads where all the individual parts combine to make a lot of flavor. Bon Appetit Paz! Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger. I hope you are feeling a lot better by now and will soon be back to some serious cooking and taking photos around New York!

Mango and Feta Salad

July 7, 2008 | Filed Under Basil, Cheese, Fellow Bloggers, Feta Cheese, Fruits, Herbs, Mangoes, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, Salad | 22 Comments

My number one favorite fruit is a mango (Cherries come next, then guavas…). Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska recently featured a Mango and Feta Salad on her blog. What an excellent salad for the summer. The mango and basil taste cool and sweet, while the feta cheese lends a salty taste. It’s a winning combination and so easy to throw together. I’ve made this salad several times now. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. Thanks, Laurie!

Paz

Mango and Feta Salad

Serves 1 as a meal and 2 as a side salad

Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska

1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1/4 cup crumbled feta

1 tsp minced basil

1 Tbsp. best quality olive oil

Sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Lightly toss the mango, feta, basil, and olive oil together. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

Chili Sauteed Eggplant with Beans, Parsley and Lemon

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Salad | 18 Comments

After some dental surgery the other day, I am finally able to eat something other than "soft" food. I still have to be careful about what I put into my mouth and decided to make Ilva’s Chili Sauteed Eggplant with Beans, Parsley and Lemon. Actually, I didn’t have any chili peppers and used crushed red pepper. It worked. I not only liked the taste of the food but the texture as well — the sauteed eggplant, the soft cannelini beans, and the fresh parsley.

In many of my older posts, I’ve mentioned several foods that I never liked until I started cooking. Eggplant is one of those foods. Now, I love it and enjoy all the recipes containing it. Ilva’s recipe was no different. As with many of her recipes, this was NOT time-consuming to make. Yes! Thanks, Ilva!

Paz

Chili Sauteed Eggplant with Beans, Parsley and Lemon

Lucullian Delights

Eggplant

Fresh chili pepper

Garlic

Cannelini or Borlotti beans, cooked

Parsley, chopped

Lemon Juice

Salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Clean and dice the eggplant.

Chop the chili pepper and the garlic, heat them up in olive oil and add the diced eggplant. Salt it.

Saute unitl the eggplant is golden, then take it out of the pan and let it drop of excess fat on kitchen towel paper.

Put the beans in a bowl, add plent of parsley and squeeze a good squeeze of lemon juice over it all.

Add the eggplant, mix well and serve.

Black Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Kalyn's Kitchen, Salad | 15 Comments

I love salads. I may have already told you this. I’m not sure but I’ll tell you again. I love salads — all kinds of salads, not just your regular leafy green type.

Kalyn made a Pinto Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro that screamed at me to make it immediately. I liked all the ingredients but my favorite (and if you’re a regular reader, you’ll already know) is cilantro. It makes me do my happy dance in the kitchen when I chop it for use and sprinkle it on my food. This is a super easy salad to prepare and the best thing about it is that you can use any type of beans you want. Instead of pinto beans, I used black beans. I’m going to experiment with different beans. Awesome salad, Kalyn. Thanks!

Paz

Pinto Bean Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Cilantro
(Makes 4 side-dish servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

1 can pinto beans, rinse and drain very well
4-5 tsp. white balsamic vinegar or champagne vinegar
1 avocado, diced into pieces 1/2 inch square
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 cup chopped tomatoes (cherry tomatoes cut in half would be great too, but I had medium tomatoes which I cut in eighths)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1-2 T olive oil, or a bit more
fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

Pour beans into a colander placed in the sink and rinse well until no more foam appears. Let beans drain well for at least 15 minutes. Then blot beans dry with paper towel, place in plastic bowl, and toss with white balsamic vinegar. Let beans marinate in the vinegar while you prep other ingredients.

Cut avocado into 1/2 inch pieces and place in small bowl. Toss with lime juice. Chop tomatoes, or if using cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

Chop red onion and cilantro. (I like to chop with a chef’s knife, but you could use a mini-chopper or food processor for this.) Mix onions and cilantro into marinating beans. Then use a large spoon to gently fold in avocado and tomato. Drizzle olive oil over salad and season to taste with fresh ground black pepper and sea salt, and gently toss again. Serve immediately, at room temperature.

Variations: I think other varieties of beans would also be tasty in this combination.

Tepid Chickpea and Chicken Salad with Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoes or Insalata Tiepida di Ceci e Pollo con Zucchine e Pomodori Secchi

April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Lucullian Delights, Salad | 11 Comments

Ilva’s salads are always sure winners for me. And here’s another one that recently caught my eye — Tepid Chickpea and Chicken Salad with Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoes. I loved this one. I loved that the ingredients are simple and delicious. Everything went well together — the chicken, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, parsley and garlic. Mixed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, I had a lip-smacking time eating this salad. Oh! and it’s preparation time is fast, so that I didn’t have to spend a great deal of time in the kitchen. Grazie, Ilva!

TEPID CHICKPEA AND CHICKEN SALAD WITH ZUCCHINI AND SUNDRIED TOMATOES or INSALATA TIEPIDA DI CECI E POLLO CON ZUCCHINE E POMODORI SECCHI

Lucullian Delights

3-4 servings

1 chicken breast
400 ml/1,7 cup cooked chickpeas
2 medium zucchini
2 whole sundried tomatoes on the large side
1-2 tblsp chopped parsley
1 clove of garlic
Black pepper
Salt
Mild vinegar or lemon/lime juice
Extra-virgin olive oil

- Mix vinegar, salt, parsley and olive oil and pour it over the chickpeas. Leave them to marinate while you proceed with the recipe.

- Put the sundried tomatoes in some tepid water to soak.

- Chop the garlic, cut or slice the zucchini into pieces and start braising them in a pan with some olive oil.

- Cut the chicken breast into small pieces and then salt and pepper them well, especially the last. Chop the sundried tomatoes finely.

- When the zucchini begins to be golden, add chicken and the chopped tomatoes and sautè for 4-5 minutes, it depends on how big the chicken pieces are.

- Pour away the excess oil and mix with the chickpeas.

- Let it cool down a little before serving.

LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow 2008: Corn Salad

April 14, 2008 | Filed Under A Taste of Yellow, Corn, Food Blogging Events, Salad, Vegetables, Winos and Foodies, Yellow Foods | 20 Comments

The Lance Armstrong Foundation provides the practical tools and information that people with cancer need to to live strong.

May 13, 2008 is LIVESTRONG Day, where different events are held worldwide to raise awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.

Barbara of Winos and Foodies is hosting LIVESTRONG Day event again this year. It’s a way for food and wine bloggers to show support for those battling cancer. Last year she organized the event and 149 bloggers participated. Wow! Wow! Wow! This is what I made last year for the event. Here is the roundup of 2007 entries. Check it out when you can, there are a lot of creative and delicious dishes.

Participants are asked to prepare foods in the color yellow. This year, I put together a corn salad. I love corn and I love bright food colors. Needless to say, I like yellow. For this salad, I mixed corn kernels, red bell peppers, scallions, and cilantro (my favorite! but you can use parsely). Then I added olive oil, white pepper, Kosher salt and some red pepper flakes (gotta add a little heat!). Oh, and some fresh lemon juice, I added lemon juice, too. I love my corn salad — healthy, tasty and colorful yellow. LIVESTRONG Yellow!

If you’re interested in participating in this event, it’s not too late. Please join us. April 19 is the deadline to submit your entry to Barbara. Go here for the guidelines.

I have two extra LIVESTRONG wristbands, which I’d be happy to send to anyone who’d like one. E-mail me if you’re interested. You can find my addy in the ABOUT section.

Thanks, Barbara, for putting this wonderfully supportive event together. If you visit Winos and Foodies on May 13, you can see the list of fantastic enteries that Barbara will put together.

Paz

Ed. Note: Check out the roundup of those who participated:

LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow Round Up 2008 Part 1

LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow 2008 - Round Up Part 2

Weekend Herb Blogging #103: Feta, Walnut and Herb Salad

October 7, 2007 | Filed Under Salad, Weekend Herb Blogging | 8 Comments

Parsley, Mint, Basil

Lately, my schedule has neither allowed me much time to cook, bake, blog or read other blogs as before. As a result, I’ve missed out on participating in one of my favorite food blogging events — Weekend Herb Blogging, started by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Basically, you can post about any herb, plant, fruit, vegetable or flower. Include a recipe or provide information about your subject. Here are the guidelines to participate.

On the eve of the event’s second year anniversary, Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once will host it live from Florence, Italy. Exciting!

I can’t believe that WHB has been going on for nearly two years. Not only has it been fun for me to come up with something to blog about, but it’s been even more fun to see what others prepare.

I didn’t want the second year anniversary to pass without participating. So here I am with my contribtion. The herbs involved in the recipe I chose include parsley, mint and basil — all herbs I like. I like when more than one herb is included in a dish. I think it adds an extra special bang.

Here are a few known special facts about these herbs:

Parsley: It makes an excellent breath freshener. It is high in vitamin A and C. It contains iron, iodine and cooper.

Mint: There are 25 species of mint. Common mints to grow are peppermint, spearmint and pineapple mint.

Basil: Originally native to India and other parts of Asia. Considered ‘King of Herbs’ by many.

Go here, here and here for more info about these herbs.

This Feta, Walnut and Herb salad I made is loosely based on a recipe by Nigella Lawson. Interestingly enough, she calls it a salad but it’s really supposed to be a grainy sort of paste, which you serve with crudités, like chunks of raw vegetable.

I didn’t want a paste. I wanted to be able to bite into something that reminded me of a real salad. So, I roughly chopped the herbs and the rest of the ingredients and served it as is, without processing them. I ate my "salad" with bread and it wasn’t bad at all. I also added a tad bit more olive oil to my salad and I was good to go! Best thing about the dish was the sharp taste of the fresh herbs mixed with the other ingredients. I could taste the mint, parsley and basil and they sure tasted good along with the feta cheese and walnuts.

Oh, and yes, I did do my happy dance (read #9 — the dance that comes upon me when I smell something wonderful in the kitchen when I prepare a meal) as I chopped the herbs and their tantalizing scents released into the air. Loved it!

Perhaps, I’ll try the paste another time.

Paz

My version of Nigella’s Feta, Walnut and Herb Salad

Feta, Walnut and Herb Salad

Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson

2 tablespoons each of fresh mint, parsley and basil

7 ounces feta cheese

7 ounces shelled walnuts, chopped

6 scallions

1 clove garlic

half teaspoon salt

pepper

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Process all of the above to make a grainy paste. That’s it. What are you waiting for?

Serves 4-6 with crudités

Couscous Salad with Chickpeas and Goat’s Cheese

June 28, 2007 | Filed Under Salad | 12 Comments

Mmmm! I loved this salad! This Moroccan recipe comes from Valentina. It’s another easy recipe. I think the magic ingredients here are the tumeric and cinnamon.

Instead of chicken or vegetable stock mentioned in the recipe, I used beef stock because that’s all I had. Still tasted good. I left out the preserved lemon cause I didn’t have any but I have made it before (look here). I’ll have to make the preserved lemon again. Very delicious, very flavorable. Thanks, Valentina!

Paz

Couscous Salad with Chickpeas and Goat’s Cheese

Trembom - English Version

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ½ cups chicken stock ( or vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)

1 ½ cups couscous

420g chickpeas, cooked and peeled

150g goat’s cheese, crumbled

2 red peppers, seeds removed and roasted in the oven

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons each chopped mint and parsley

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 preserved lemon

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add onion and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes to light brown. Add crushed garlic, tumeric, and cinnamon, and cook for another 30 seconds, then add stock and bring to the boil

Stir in the couscous, then remove pan from the heat, cover and leave to steam for 10 minutes to soften. Remove covering and fluff up couscous with a fork. Set it aside to cool